Small towns, quaint and charming, ideally picturesque for a small family to grow up in with a white picket fence paired up with the mother, father and the 2.5 children. What happens when that serene local town, exuberantly bustling with business, progressively loses the aspects that kept it alive? The youth, boisterous and effervescent, grew up surrounded by the local businesses, schools and practices, but as the years wear on, living in that small town years down the road slowly grew to be less appealing. In The Heartland and the Rural Youth Exodus by Patrick J. Carr and Maria Kefalas equally argue that “small towns play an unwitting part in their own decline (Carr and Kefalas 33) when they forget to remember the “untapped resource of the …show more content…
Failing to return to the home town not only results from the people who pushed them to pursue their dreams, but also the fact that the youth can earn more from a big city than their little home town could provide. Carr and Kefalas make this point when they state, “Less than a generation the Heartlands most valuable export was no longer crops or hogs, but its educated young people” (24). Fundamentally this would seriously hit close to home with the doctors, business owners and teachers because they chose to stay in the community even though there are better offers else where outside of town. Additionally Carr and Kefalas point out that small towns can’t rely on their agriculture anymore because with they way the world is moving working in bigger cities brings more income and a fast paced environment. The audience would become more aware of their actions, after learning the fact that they were unaware of their actions, that they’d find a way to get the students back, perhaps offering them an intern position to reel them back into …show more content…
Now, a normal sized town contains fast-food joints, supermarkets, malls, and superstores, but a small town lacks that appeal. The small-town could be the most beautiful landscape known to man, but lack the necessary luxuries in life that a typical American would benefit from. Carr and Kefalas make this statement that emphasizes the town’s lack of appeal, “Indeed the most conspicuous aspects of the towns landscape may be the very things that are missing; malls, subdivisions, traffic and young people” (26). The authors clearly state that they realize that towns, such as the Heartland, are hurting because of the towns’ lack of modernization. For all intents and purposes, the town’s lack of being visually pleasing is driving away probable citizens, not only the native youth, and possible future employee’s away from a possible internship with the town. The citizens with a practice or business hurt from the towns inability to grow up and change along with the rest of the world, yet the town doesn’t realize what bringing in other businesses could potentially do for their small town. Creating more businesses such as malls, superstores and supermarkets would not only drive business up the roof, but it’ll also bring in revenue and draw the
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Creation of highway networks outside the city and subsequent growth of suburban communities transformed the way citizens worked lived and spent their leisure time. Downtown businesses closed or moved to malls inducing a reduction in downtown shopping and overall downtown commercial traffic.
Postrel develops her support of national retailers throughout the essay, offering the opinion that it isn’t the stores that give places their character, but instead, aspects like the terrain, weather and culture that do (Postrel 347). While terrain, weather and culture can set apart regions, such as New England from The Deep South, and Southern California from the Midwest, it’s the community that gives each town their own special character. A community consists of the residents, their restaurants, hardware stores, pharmacies, ice cream parlors, farmers markets, and so on. These places, and the interactions that occur daily at each establishment, are the fabric that differentiate them, and create the breeding ground for diverse characteristics to flourish. While Postrel argues that wildly different business establishments across America in the past is a myth , it’s actually not necessarily that the products that varied from store to store, but more the aforementioned factors that truly set ...
All the drastic changes that the world has been through, and Carr and Kefalas show that in their writing. These changes at some time made the current town, were they live, a thriving and prosperous place. People would move from their towns to these prospering communities to seek out the benefits that were offered. Many of those small towns are slowly fading into the background because of the modern world changes that big and upcoming cities that offering. These changes are creating new jobs and environments for the youth that are looking for change in the small towns that once were big and thriving, are now filled with the older generation that don’t want to make the change. They are looking to keep things consistent with the life they have been living; some changes in their eyes are not good, they are just creating problems. In Carr and Kefalas’s article they write about living in a small town called Ellis in Iowa. Carr and Kefalas talked to an employee working at a new factory in Ellis, “A machine operator living in Ellis complains about the strugglers facing old-fashion workers who find themselves trapped in a newfangled economy” (33). People living in small towns are unlikely to adapt to new changes, but are having to because of companies starting new factories in their community. This new technology is bound to change the life of older generation parents, whether they choose to stay in their small town lifestyle or move to
With less than 5,000 residents living in Smallville, Ohio, it is an ideal small town where everyone knows each other, multiple generations of families live and grow and barely any crimes are committed. The main road leading into Smallville is like a never-ending run of corn fields, silos and dairy farms. It's an old town with old traditions. As brief as my residency was in Smallville, I witnessed the social injustices and educational issues that plague small town living.
While early 20th century America was an era of great economic advancement and material wealth, the prevalent growth in industry had a profound impact on small, rural communities. An expanding upper class did not signify prosperity for all. Those who were unable to rise in society were left behind, forced to live under harsh environmental conditions as factories polluted rural towns. As detailed by Nick while accompanying Tom to the city one
The Suburbanization of the United States. New York. Oxford University Press, 1985. Lemann, Nicholas. The.. The Promised Land.
...n social planning and happiness for the individual. A town is recognized for the individuals who live in it, not the business it seems to incorporate. Pullman had a disillusioned, egotistical regard for his workers. When asked about his intentions on building the model town, he commented: “Capital will not invest in sentiment, nor for sentimental considerations for the laboring class. But let it once be proved that enterprises of this kind are safe and profitable and we shall see great manufacturing corporations developing similar enterprises and thus a new era will be introduced in the history of labor.” Pullman never seemed to grasp how a workingman’s happiness must be fulfilled on a much deeper level than his mere physical settings. The leisurely enjoyment of oneself as well as an overall establishment of identity was the key. When Pullman planned his model town, it was a dream which he envisioned for himself. A dream which would increase his wealth, improve his business and make him renowned. In his heart, he might have never intentionally wanted to socially deprive his work force; it just so happened that the planning of the town did not take this into proper consideration.
With economic decline in full effect, the city of Anderson is on track to become a ghost town. Anderson is located in Northern California, 150 miles north of Sacramento, and a 10-minute drive to Redding. The primary source of the problem is in Anderson’s Downtown which is defined as I-5 to 273 and North Street to Balls Ferry (See Reference 1). Nearby attractions include the Sacramento River, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, and the Mt Shasta Mall (Things Web). However, all the main attractions are found in the Redding city. Why did Anderson become a “Bedroom City” to Redding (Kiser)? Some believe that because of the lack of popularity in Anderson, it is very hard to keep a business up and running before it is closed. Most citizens will go to a larger city to shop before they shop in their hometown because the big city will have more variety. Jeff Kiser,
There are many remote and bland places in America, but not many can top the Upper Midwest - at least, according to Debra Marquart, author of The Horizontal World. According to her experience growing up there, the entire region is remote, undistinguished, and unimpressive to even its early settlers. Generally, she depicts the area as a very montone and uninteresting place to be, a territory that must be crossed in order to find more interesting attractions. However, such a desolate wasteland can and does have its silver lining. To her ancestors, it was a beacon of hope as they immigrated from Russia; a movement that transformed a land of nothing into a future.
The two major communities that individuals live in are urban and rural. Both types have both positive and negative aspects. The focus of this paper is on rural communities. From my research rural environments are not as popular as urban ones; however, the citizens who live in these communities are very happy with the lifestyle they chose. The word rural is generally associated with communities that lack accessibility to public services such as transit, shopping, and entertainment. This is generally used in communities where farming is a primary occupation. In my study I interviewed three individuals who identify as living in a rural community.
Living and growing up in a small town is better than doing so in a big city.
As farmers and small farming communities become more and more distanced from the land and one another, a greater dissatisfaction results in the farmer's perception of his/her life. In Kent Meyers' novel, "The River Warren," Two-Speed Crandall becomes a victim of this trend. To understand why this dissatisfaction is becoming more prevalent, we must look at the decline of more traditional methods of farming in favor of contemporary agriculture. Also, we must explore the disintegration of community in the lives of rural farmers. These two factors are inevitably correlated; a transition to industrial, corporate farming leads to the farmer feeling less a part of a farming community.
Imagine having to choose to reside in one place for the rest of your life. Which would you opt for? Some people would argue that the hyperactive lifestyle that a big city has to offer has more benefits than living in the country. However, others would contend that the calm and peaceful environment of the countryside is much more rewarding. Several people move from the city to a farm to get away from the hustle and bustle. Likewise, some farmers have traded in their tractors and animals to live a fast paced city life. Of course, not all large cities are the same nor are all of the places in the country identical. Realizing this, ten years ago, I decided to hang up the city life in Indiana to pursue a more laid back approach to life in rural Tennessee. Certainly, city life and life in the country have their benefits, but they also have distinguishable differences.
This hit me like a ton of bricks. Growing up in a small town has its advantages and disadvantages. I know how it feels to know that